Maine taxes (construction, maintenance, excise tax)

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by shadowfax1997

I hope this never happens here. So much for our freedom of choice.

The school (government ) tells you what you do for your entire life? I find this thought very distastefull. I really doubt I would remain in this country if they said I have to be a ____ ( fill in the blank ).

The system was explained to me multiple times, I just never fully managed to wrap my brain around it.

You sit boards where your grades, aptitudes and teacher's comments are all reviewed; and the elders decide your best coarse of action [ ie, one more year of schooling at crown expense, or specialization in a trade or vocational prep, or an apprenticeship ]. Each year starting at about 16 years of age, until you finally end in a trade, they each go through this. Eventually everyone ends up in a trade [unless the individual drops out of the system, to become a wife or to find a job of their own].

One must remember that it is a socialist government, and that everyone is bred to assume that their government will provide a cradle-to-grave care. The government is ran by the aristocracy, and the government knows what is best for the peasants.

[AVLtechguy]

Property Taxes are amazingly high. I think there is a serious looming problem in Maine and the US will be needing to bail out this state. MaineCare - practically socialized medicine but the state is not able to pay their bills already. The Hospitals are owed $Millions. You need health care ? Move to Maine - you get it automatically as a resident.
It's not like Maine has a growing Tech sector or something in their economy whihc will bail the state out of their poorly thought out Medical concept. Instead the state is amassing a massive debt with no way to pay.
I'm not looking forward to having to pay for Maines ill-conceived socialized Medicine experiment. Maybe Hillary will help them out? at all of ours expense!

[K-Luv]

MaineCare pays out double the national average. If they just went down to paying the national average Maine would save millions yearly.

The (un)funny thing is that it is all about votes. I am positive that if Maine had a better economy and a better business environment then every once in a while someone besides a feel good Democrat who promises to hand out welfare to everyone simply for asking for it would be elected Governor.

[flycessna]

Originally Posted by AVLtechguy

Property Taxes are amazingly high. I think there is a serious looming problem in Maine and the US will be needing to bail out this state. MaineCare - practically socialized medicine but the state is not able to pay their bills already. The Hospitals are owed $Millions. You need health care ? Move to Maine - you get it automatically as a resident.
It's not like Maine has a growing Tech sector or something in their economy whihc will bail the state out of their poorly thought out Medical concept. Instead the state is amassing a massive debt with no way to pay.
I'm not looking forward to having to pay for Maines ill-conceived socialized Medicine experiment. Maybe Hillary will help them out? at all of ours expense!

I think they are too! Though there are pocket areas where you can find lower property tax rates, overall Maine ranks 18th (1=worst). That means there are 32 states ranked better.

Property taxes do not tell the whole story though. NH is ranked 6th but has no income or sales taxes.

One figure I liked to use is the total amount of money the "State" extracts from its population. A per capita average of over $5,200 for every man women and child, Maine is ranked 6th highest. Even California doesn’t extract that much from its citizens.

combine that figure with a "Municipal" tax rank of 18th. And we start to see the bigger problem looming over Maine.

Just in last few weeks, just on this forum we have seen discussions on the price of milk in Maine being higher then surrounding states, and how the state sets the price of it and also charges fee's and taxes. We have talked about how our gas is more expensive, our vehicle excise tax costs more. And how there is less opportunity to find a good paying job.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by AVLtechguy

Property Taxes are amazingly high. I think there is a serious looming problem in Maine and the US will be needing to bail out this state. MaineCare - practically socialized medicine but the state is not able to pay their bills already. The Hospitals are owed $Millions. You need health care ? Move to Maine - you get it automatically as a resident.
It's not like Maine has a growing Tech sector or something in their economy whihc will bail the state out of their poorly thought out Medical concept. Instead the state is amassing a massive debt with no way to pay.
I'm not looking forward to having to pay for Maines ill-conceived socialized Medicine experiment. Maybe Hillary will help them out? at all of ours expense!

The majority of Maine is in UT. Property taxes in UTs are set according to county.

Penobscot county has the highest Mil Rate for it's UTs, higher than all other Maine counties. Penobscot county's Mil Rate is 0.00842

The majority of Maine UT's [again the majority of Maine] has mil rates below that level. I have posted them individually once before, and I can post them again if you desire to see exactly how low the mil rates are.

The county mil rate, is what goes to the county and the state of Maine.

Each town in Maine may set their own mil rate, at any level they desire.

If your town's mil rate is higher, then it is purely an issue of what is happening within your town. And can not be blamed on the state nor the federal government.

Just so that you understand what I am saying. With the highest mil rate of any UT in Maine we pay $1.05 per acre per year, for riverfront property.

42 acres of river frontage for $47 / year, is not what I would consider high property taxes. And again the majority of Maine is UT. Any higher property taxes are a function of the individual town.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by flycessna

I think they are too! Though there are pocket areas where you can find lower property tax rates,

Keep in mind those 'pockets' form the majority of land mass of the state.

52% in fact.

... Just in last few weeks, just on this forum we have seen discussions on ... our vehicle excise tax costs more. ...

If you followed that discussion, that myth was busted.

[flycessna]

"Refering to areas of the state that offer low property taxes"

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

Keep in mind those 'pockets' form the majority of land mass of the state.

52% in fact.

Thats probably the case Forest , but land mass doesn't pay taxes, people do. And I would like to see what average property tax is where people are actually living.



About vehicle excise taxes.

If you followed that discussion, that myth was busted

I didn't see the myth "busted". I saw examples of states that charged more..and examples of states that charged less. Its hard with those kinds of taxes because you cannot find broad based state by state stats. You resort to looking at just the states around you. Last I checked, Ma, and NH were less.

Maine's vehicle excise tax runs from .024 to .0040 over 6 years and is based on the new car value for life. NH does the same thing but the rates are different. Ma. excise tax is .025 and is based on a percentage of the new value of the car. The percentage runs 5 years from 90% to 10% of new car value.

a car bought new for $30,000 .

1st year ME=$720 .00
Ma=$675.00 (.025x90% value)
NH=$540.00(manchester city website)

2nd year ME=$525.00
MA= $450.00(.025x60%)
NH=$450.00

3rd year ME=$405.00
MA=$300.00(.025 x40%)
NH=$360.00

4th year ME=$300.00
MA=$187.00(.025x25%)
NH=$270.00

5th year ME=$195.00
MA=$75.00(.025x10%)FOR LIFE
NH=$180.00

6th year ME=$120.00 for life
MA=$75.00 for life
NH=$90.00 for life

Lets not forget Maine has a higher sales tax on vehicles than Ma and NH(none) and we pay more for our gas.

[Zymer]

I don't know where you got the stat for MA MV excise, but as far as I know it is paid at a rate of $25 per $1,000 based on current value.

[Alaskapat528]

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

To my observation other states charge 'property taxes' on motor vehicles.

Maine calls those property taxes by the name 'excise tax'.

When we moved to Maine, our vehicle registration fees [including this excise tax] dropped a great deal, as compared to Ct.

We have a vehicle tax here in Alaska which burns me up. They go by the year and value of the vehicle. And that means since you need a newer, decent vehicle up here due to the weather conditions, you get taxed heavily on your vehicles.

[flycessna]

Originally Posted by Zymer

I don't know where you got the stat for MA MV excise, but as far as I know it is paid at a rate of $25 per $1,000 based on current value.

CIS: Motor Vehicle Excise Information

As far as I can read it. 25$ for every $1000 of valuation and then it gives the percentage of valuation for each year.

When I lived there We would recieve our excise tax bill in the mail. It was a while ago but I never paid as much as I pay here.